Inception: The Aftermath
by Kino4500
Summary: What truly happened after the events of Inception? This story unveils the adventures of a young man and his ability to travel from other people's dreams during his sleep.
1. Introduction

A young man stands before the ocean and gazes upon the northern sky. The sounds of splashing waves can be  
heard clearly; smashing against the tall and brittle buildings. With each strike the structure falls upon the shore  
and releases a devastating impact upon the land. One by one the buildings fall, creating a synchronized tone of  
explosions.

"Where am I?"

He has awoken from the symphony of destruction produced around him. Tremendous fear swiftly takes control of  
his mind, making him run into the streets and away from the shore. Running and flailing his arms wildly, trying to  
avoid each falling debris. The ocean waves seem to be slowly approaching the main land. He hurries down to the  
epicenter of the city until he stops and senses a presence.

He was not alone.

He quickly gazes at a building that he passed by seconds ago. No one seems to be there but he still felt a presence.  
He seeked for answers. Why is he in a place like this? He assumed that the myserious presence would answer his  
questions. Quickly he rushed into the building and climbed the everlasting staircase.; dropping a sweat with each  
passing floor until he stops and stares at a room.

"This is where I felt it..." He opened the door and slowly creeped inside.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" he asked timidly. No one seemes to be present within the living room. He walks towards  
the balcony and looks at a distance. "What is this place...? Where am I!?" He shouted and seeked for an answer. Of  
course, no one would reply. Trapped in thought, he sits down on a nearby chair and rests his head upon the wall.  
He began to close his tired eyes until suddenly he heard a voice from a distance. He opens his eyes and searches  
for the source of the echo.

"Hello?" he asked again while walking into an empty room. No one is there. He sighs and turns around to see a  
man stand before him. The man is well dressed in a suit and appears to have not shaved in months.

"It appears that I have a visitor.. it's rare to have a visitor these days..

...

especially in my dream." The man said calmly.

"In a dream?"

"Yes, this is very peculiar.. tell me, have you also fallen victim to 'multi-layered dreaming'?"

"... Ah..?"

"It appears that you are dumbfounded by your current situation.. well then, let's start with a normal introduction.  
My name is Cobb, nice to meet you young man." Cobb reaches out his right arm and asks for a handshake.

"... nice to meet you too...?" He also extends his right arm and awkwardly shakes Cobb's hand.

"I would like to know your name."

"My name?... Ah... AHA! I remember now!"

Cobb makes a confused expression towards the young man.

"This must be a dream right? So that must mean that I can get out of here by hurting myself!" He makes a run for  
the balcony and prepares to leap off until Cobb quickly grabs his waist and stops him.

"Please, you must tell me your name!" Cobb said angrily. The young man aggressivley tries to break free from  
Cobb's grasp and eventually loses his strength to continue fighting. Cobb notices that he has lost his ability to fight  
back so he releases him from his trap. The young man kneels on the floor and gasps for air.

"If this is a dream, then I can control anything!" He quickly stands up and extends his arms towards the distant  
chair and tries to levitate it using his mind.

"I already told you, this is MY dream, not yours. That means that I am the only one who is able to control it" Cobb  
said.

The young man relaxes his arms and faces Cobb, "How do I exist in another person's dream? This doesn't make  
sense!"

"I can tell you everything if you can give me your name first."

The young man focuses his vision at Cobb and stares at his face. Can he just simply give his trust to the person he  
just met? This could be serious. If this man comes from the real world, then he can find the young man in real life  
and could do harm to him. Judging by his appearance, it appears that this man comes from a serious organization.  
Regardless, the young man seeked answers and the only way to achieve it is to simply say his name.

"My name is Trupe"

"Trupe.. well, nice to meet you Trupe, and welcome to my domain."

Cobb unleashes a strange tiny object from his pockets and spins it on a table. The object continues to spin... and  
spin.. and spin.

"Do you know what this is?" Cobb points at the spinning object.

"Looks like one of those toys that children would play"

"Hahaha, it does look like one of those, huh?" Cobb said jokingly.

"This.. is called a totem. A totem's purpose is to tell whether or not the person is currently in a dream. If it  
continues to spin nonstop, then you must be dreaming"

"Hey, it's doing it now" said Trupe.

"Exactly, we are currently in my dream, and I have no idea how you've come to this place.." Cobb walks closer to  
the balcony and looks at a distance.

"I can only come up with one valid explanation for this event.." He turns around and faces Trupe, "my team has  
sent you to wake me up from my own nightmare.."

"W-what?"

".. this is impossible though, why would they send a child to rescue me?.." Cobb faces outwards and into the  
streets below them and mumbles to himself;

"it appears that the boy has no idea what is happening right now.. perhaps he has the ability to travel into other  
peoples dreams?... impossible but.."

He slightly raises his head and asks "Tell me, Trupe, have you been to other people's dreams?"

... no answer.

"Trupe?"

Cobb turns around to face Trupe, but he was nowhere to be seen.

It is as if he vanished.


	2. Chapter 1: Arthur

The sunlight rays cast upon the entire bedroom, creating intense shadows that stretches across the room. Trupe is  
awaken by the sound of his alarm clock. He reaches out for the snooze button to stop the noise. It appears that the  
alarm has been ringing for quite some time.

"... that was the strangest dream I had in a while.."

He scratches his head and looks at the ceiling; "this dream is different.. he was the first person who actually talked  
inside my dream.." He remains on his bed and rethinks his situation. Who is this man named Cobb and why did he exist  
within his dream? He insists that this was merely his own dream and not Trupe's. It does not make any sense.

And what was that 'totem' he spoke of?

Trupe gets off his bed and removes his ring from his middle finger. He flicks it on the table and the ring soon continues  
to spin, and spin, and spin.. Momentarily it slows down and comes to a stop.

"hmph, I musn't be dreaming since it stopped spinning"

Trupe inserts his ring back into his middle finger and notices the time on the wall clock.

"No! I'm going to be late for school!"

With only 5 minutes left to spare, he changes his clothes, rushes to the kitchen and grabs what he needs, greet his  
parents, and ran out of the house. Normally he would walk to school but that would take too much of his time. He has  
no option but to ride his bike to school. He rides on it and travels towards the main street while increasing his velocity.  
With a speed of 10 kilometers per hour, he calculated that he will reach school without being late. Passing by every  
block and a few intersections, he sees his school from a distance. He focuses his view at the school;

"I only have 1 minute left until the bell rings and school starts! I shoul-"

Trupe does not notice the vehicle coming from the side and he crashes into the side-door. Trupe slams unto the  
window and falls down on the ground, but luckily the window did not break. The strong impact left a long scar on the  
car. A man walks out and helps Trupe get up from the floor.

"You alright, kid?" the man said.

"Ugh... ah yes.. I'm fine, thanks."

"That's good, you gotta watch where you're going next time-"

He notices the scar on the car's door that was left by the bike.

"Ugh... It's going to cost a lot of money to repaint this thing.."

The man gives out a loud sigh and asks, "Listen kid, you have to pay for this since it was your fault you were going so fast  
with your bike.. can you give me your name? Let's exchange numbers."

"Aha... my bad..

..

My name's Trupe"

"Glad to meet you Trupe, my name is Arthur."

The school's bell echoes throughout the street. Trupe grabs his damaged bike and attempts to ride it.

"I don't think you can use that anymore.." Arthur said

"Man.. my parents are gonna kill me for this.."

"Your school is just across the block, right? I'll give you a lift there"

"really?" Trupe says excitingly.

"Yeah, hop on. I'll attach that bike of yours at the back of my car"

"Huh? What are you going to do with my bike?"

"Well, it appears that you don't have enough money to pay for all of the repairs, so I'm being a good samaritan and I'll  
repair the damages myself"

"Oh sweet!"

They both enter the car and drive off.

Arthur reaches into his right pocket and lends his cellphone to Trupe, "So yeah, I will need your cellphone number so  
that I can contact you when the bike's finished with its repairs"

Trupe grabs the cellphone and puts his cellphone number in his contacts list. He also does the same with his own  
cellphone and inputs Arthur's cellphone number into his contacts list. He gives back Arthur's phone and they soon  
arrive at the school. The car comes to a stop in the parking lot.

"I'll contact you as soon as the bike's finished." Arthur said with a smile

"Hey, you look like a physician, tell me, are you an expert with dreams psychology or something?"

"Well, you could say that"

"Alright good, I need to talk to you afterwards, I have something to tell you.. but for now I should go to school"

"sounds like a good idea"

Trupe gets out of the car and quickly enters the front door of the school.

"What a strange kid.. I wonder what made him ask that kind of question in the first place " Arthur said while driving  
away from the parking lot.

After a couple of hours, school has ended and Trupe managed to get an excuse for being late. Fortunately for him, he was pardoned and he did not receive any punishment. Luck must be on his side today since all these terrible events that has been happening to him has been turned into a  
blessing. He hasn't checked his phone in a while so he decides to check it out. It appears that he received a new text message:

"The bike's been repaired, come meet me at the Woodlow's cafe, I'll be waiting for you there."

Trupe decides to walk since Woodlow's Cafe is just a few blocks away. During his time spent walking, he thinks about  
the questions that he is going to ask Arthur in the cafe. Perhaps he should mention the name 'Cobb' to him and see if  
that would brighten up the situation. Trupe eventually arrives at the cafe and spots Arthur's car that is parked on the  
side of the road. It appears newly painted, did Arthur travel directly to to get it fixed right after the incident? That was  
completely unexpected, it seems that he has a lot of spare time in his hands.

Trupe enters to cafe and spots Arthur immediately sitting at the corner of the cafe. Arthur raises his hand after seeing  
him, signifying a signal to Trupe that he is sitted there. Completely unnecessary since Trupe already spotted him in the  
first place. Trupe briskly walks towards him and sits down opposite of Arthur.

"So, you wanted to ask me about.. dreams?" Arthur says in a quiet tone.

"Yes, uhmm.. let's see.. where should I start?" Trupe stares at the ceiling and thinks about which question he should ask  
Arthur first. Perhaps he should start off by stating Cobb's name, or maybe start off with totem as their main subject?  
Trupe decides to take off his ring and spins it on the table.

"This is... !" Arthur's jaws almost drop. Since their main subject is about dreams, Arthur knew exactly what this object  
represents. The sight baffled him.

"You know what this is, right? I think I don't need to-"

"Listen to me, how do you know what this is? Did someone explain this to you?..." Arthur cuts him off and starts asking  
all sorts of questions.

"Hey, I'm the one who'se supposed to be asking the questions here!" Trupe exclaims with a larger tone than Arthur's.

"Anyways, a man named Cobb told-"

"COBB YOU SAY?!" Arthur yells, his tone of voice attracts the customers in the cafe. The ring comes to a stop and falls.  
Arthur coughs, clearing his voice, and excuses himself. "Sorry about that fellas.." Arthur says with an embarassed voice.  
Trupe grabs his ring and puts it back on his middle finger and the rest of the people return to their previous state and  
continue to drink their beverages.

"ahem.. so where are we? Ah yes, Cobb." Arthur said seriously.

"Yes, he was the one who told me about the totem"

"Where did you meet him?"

"Well.. you might not believe me but.. I actually met him in my dream, but he insisted me that it was his dream and not  
mine."

"I-I see.." Arthut says while rubbing his chin with his fingers.

"And you remember this dream very clearly?" he adds.

"Yes, I always remember my dreams, as if I have lived it as part of my life. I have gotten used to it actually..

..but this one's different. The person in my dream... or 'his' dream actually talked to me."

Arthur lowers his head and thinks; "There is only one way a person could remember his own dreams  
and that is through the use of the dream machine that we used before.. I don't believe that the machine has been mass produced..? Perhaps the boy  
has gotten his hands on the machine without us knowing? This is indeed peculiar!"

"Uhh mister, are you alright?" Trupe asks.

Arthur raises his head and says "You remember your dreams very well, you said?"

"Yeah"

"Listen, do you see the people you know in one of your dreams?"

"Actually, I always see one of my friends in my dreams. There's not a single dream that I could think of that does not  
involve a person that I know, except for Cobb of course."

"Have you questioned any of your friends if they had a similar dream as yours?"

"Yeah, I tried countless of times and most of them say that they don't even remember their own dreams. Even if they did, they never actually mention me existing in their dreams."

Arthur lowers his head yet again; "Of course they don't remember, people who wake up right after a dream  
tends to forget it right away, unless if the person has some sort of capability to remember it completely, like Trupe. But  
there are some risks to what he is doing. He should not involve any of his friends in his dream or else it would greatly  
affect the dream-stream and make them wake up simultaneously..

...

unless, if it is his friend's dream and not his. The main reason why most of his friends do not remember a single thing  
from their dreams is probably because Trupe enters it during deep sleep, a phase wherein the host can not completely  
remember one's dreams."

"Ehh, you're doing it again, Mr. Arthur..."

"Ah, sorry, I must have been lost in thought again!" Arthur says while scratching the back of his head with his right arm.

"Maybe you are the key to his awakening."

"Huh? Who's awakening?"

"Cobb. He is currently in a deep coma due to reasons the doctors could not investigate. Only my team knows what truly  
happened to him. Of course we could not explain any further details because it is highly classified information."

"So you mean to tell me that this Cobb guy is actually your friend?"

"You can say that.. but let's get back to the point." Arthur takes an object from the front pocket of his shirt and begins to  
spin it on the table. Trupe identifies that this must be another one of those totems.

"Cobb went deep into his dream. He can not simply wake up from it. My team has to repeat the dream process to meet  
him again in his subconciousness, but that is an impossible task. We only had one chance to do it, and we successfully  
accomplished it but with the loss of one member, Cobb..

..Although the doctors say that there is no hope for him, I believe that we can still reach him somehow, and you are the  
key to waking him up." Arthur says in a serious tone.

"Huh? Woah-woah! W-wait a second, do you want me to a-accompany you or something? First of all, I don't know you  
guys and secondly-"

"You may save someone's life, you know. With that kind of talent, we could wake someone up from a coma. This could  
lead to further developements and studies on medicines that could potentially cure patients who are in a comatose!..

..And you can also do this as a payment for what you did to my car."

They both stare at each other with blank faces. Trupe stares outside the window, deep in thought. "What do you say, kid?" Arthur asks while extending his right arm. "Listen, Trupe, we don't have much time. Cobb is hanging by a thread here. They are going to cut his life support if we don't do anything."

Trupe stares back at Arthur, ".. heh, If you value your friend's life that much then count me in! I'm willing to do anything to help you and Cobb." Trupe shakes Arthur's hand in agreement.

Arthur stands up and walks to the left side of Trupe and says; "Well boy! It seems that fate has brought you to me..

..Let's go."


End file.
